17,071 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland today. As of 8 a.m. today, there were 717 Covid patients being treated at hospitals and 87 of them are in ICUs.
Meanwhile Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has shown hope in low number of hospital admissions due to Covid even when the case numbers surged to record high recently.
“Our case numbers are high and concerning, but good to see the rate of hospitalisations has fallen dramatically compared to this time last year,” he tweeted.
“More ICU beds will open this year and I brought a proposal to Cabinet to increase overall critical care capacity to 446 beds. Our legacy deficit is being addressed, and we are funding as many ICU beds as the HSE can open.” he said.